The
Bible tells us that in the “last days” Christian will deliver up Christian,
thinking they are doing God a favor. What is the nature of a deception that
would lead to such a betrayal? How could people from the same background
suddenly turn on one another? What catalyst or issue could cause such a
separation between believers who once stood for the same thing, possibly
attended the same church, prayed in the same homes, shared potlucks and
lives? What would cause “good” people to deliver up a fellow Christian, a
father, mother, son or daughter to death?

For nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and
there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. “But
watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you
will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings
for My sake, for a testimony to them. And the
gospel must first be preached to all the nations. But when they arrest you
and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will
speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you
who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Now brother will betray brother to death, and
a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them
to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he
who endures to the end shall be saved, For nation will rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places,
and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings
of sorrows. “But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to
councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before
rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them. And
the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. But when they arrest
you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will
speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you
who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Now brother will
betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up
against parents and cause them to be put to death. And
you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end
shall be saved. (Mark
13:8-14)

The last article I wrote,
“The
Mother of All Deceptions” drew some interesting reactions. And
if you recall the article, we discussed the possibility that the American
government had lied to the public in the past (e.g. Pearl Harbor, Vietnam,
Iraq) and possibly about involvement in 9/11 because of some very curious
coincidences surrounding the downing of the twin towers. The question posed
was: What if there were another terrorist event? What would happen to the
coming elections? What if the administration attacked Iran as noted in recent
articles.
What if America staged a three day blitz of 1200 targets in Iran? What if
this triggered terror attacks against Americans around the world or even at
home? We pointed out what happened on the Sundays following 9/11. The
churches of America filled to the brim with flags waving. A patriotic swell
not seen since Pearl Harbor swept the churches. It wasn’t that difficult to
couch the war in Hitler-like terms of “good versus evil”… Islam against the
Judeo-Christian world. After all, they declared the war against us already
and brought it to our shores!

It would be more
accurate to say that the attacks produced a dangerous change in the thinking
of some of our leaders, who began to see our republic as a genuine empire, a
new Rome, the greatest colossus in history, no longer bound by international
law, the concern of allies, or any constraints on its use of military
force…since 9/11 our country has undergone a transformation from republic to
empire that may well prove irreversible. It suddenly became “un-American” to
question the Bush administration’s “war on terrorism,” let alone a war on
Iraq, or on the whole “axis of evil,” or even on the sixty or so countries
that the president and his secretary of defense announced contained al-Qaeda
cells and so were open targets for unilateral American intervention. The
media allowed themselves to be manipulated into using sanitized expressions
like “collateral damage,” “regime change,” “illegal combatants,” and
“preventive war,” as if these somehow explained and justified what the
Pentagon was doing.” (pp 3,4)

Like the war on drugs
after which it is patterned, there will be no victory. That is because both of
these wars are designed, not to be won, but to be waged. Their function is to
sensitize the population with fear and indignation, to provide credible
justification for the gradual expansion of government power. A recent
article warned, “Bush has put in place all the necessary measures for
dictatorship in the form of "executive orders" that are triggered whenever
Bush declares a national emergency…Ask yourself: Would a government that has
lied us into two wars and is working to lie us into an attack on Iran shrink
from staging "terrorist" attacks in order to remove opposition to its agenda?”

ONE
MORE INCIDENT . . . THEN . . .

One more event would not
only trigger untold reactions from the government (possible martial law,
travel restrictions, censorship of criticism, etc.) but it would likely
trigger a ground swell of support from the more conservative churches in
America. Our position on America in Bible prophecy should be clear to anyone
who has read my book on the website, “In
Search of Prophetic Babylon.” The proposition is that the Bible clearly
describes a religious but apostate Christian nation, a massive consumer
economy that devours the world’s goods, a military power that sprung out of
the Roman Empire and finally a nation that signs a treaty with Israel – only
to renege on it after three and a half years and turn on her (Daniel
9:27). This is not some brilliant idea for a novel but straight out of
multiple passages of the Bible and discussed from many angles on our website
(See the series on the
US-Israel Strategic Alliance by Doug Krieger).

The Bible is also clear
that in the last days, most Christians will be deceived. You may ask
yourself, how could this possibly be? How could Christians turn on one
another? How could they support the Antichrist? I am going to give you three
good reasons and then discuss each in depth: 1) Many “Christians” consider
America to be a “Christian” nation – founded on Christian principles by
Christian men and that it has a special destiny to fulfill here on the earth;
2) America is Israel’s only real friend and if America blesses Israel, America
will be blessed by God; and, 3) Many Christians are confused about their true
citizenship and are working mightily to make the world a better place to live.

America
– God’s Redeemer Nation

It is understandable why
the typical American Christian would be upset by the thought that we may not
be the good guys we were cracked up to be. No one wants to think ill of their
home country. In our mind, we are standing against godless Islam by fighting
“terrorism” in Afghanistan and Iraq. The fact that a million civilians have
died in those two countries escapes us (even though this would normally be
considered genocide by us and the rest of the world given different
circumstances). We are bringing truth, justice and the American way,
democracy and self-determination to these poor radical dictatorships. The
collateral damage and all the nuclear waste from our hardened artillery and
bombs causing hundreds of thousands of deaths are acceptable losses compared
to the good we are bringing. The media constantly launders our brains to
think America is doing the world such a great service to the world.

But
there is something deep in our national psyche. In the words of the famous
author Herman Melville (1819-1891), “We Americans are the peculiar chosen
people—the Israel of our time; we bear the ark of the liberties of the
world.” (Herman Melville, White Jacket, p. 150) We are all familiar with the
theme of “manifest
destiny” which threads through America’s history and has been echoed by
many presidents since then.

There is another empire
that brought together many peoples, languages and religions and united them
into one civilization, language and culture –the Roman Empire. Napoleon,
Charlemagne and Hitler conquered Europe, but they didn’t fully assimilate it
as the Romans did; The Romans offered full citizenship to free men. Rome
brought civilization and empire to multi-ethnic peoples by bringing one
language, one culture, one commercial empire to the masses. We are the Romans
of the new world – first, the great assimilating people made up of peoples
from all of Europe; then, Africa and lately, Asia and Latin America. We have
become the great exporters of civilization. The most popular television
programming and blockbuster movies are immediately translated (either dubbed
or with subtitles) and sent all over the world practically in real time. I
used to sit in gatherings in places as far flung as Indonesia, Argentina or
Nigeria and watch the incredible fluency of others in our language and culture
seeing them capture the nuances of English. In fact, it was a little
embarrassing being beaten in Trivial Pursuit more than once by some
“foreigner.” “Ubiquitous” really describes the USA –we are everywhere. When
I was in Kuwait for a couple of weeks, the lead story in the newspaper was a
great debate over the Barbie Doll and whether it was too (well, you know) to
be allowed in the country. American culture and the English language permeate
the world.

America is schizophrenic
where half take pride in being liberal and open, while the other half feel
that they have been robbed of their core values by secular culture. Yet,
America holds the most conservative religious beliefs in the Western world and
is closer to Turkey or Mexico than any western country. The
culture conflict
between the secular and religious elements is well known but both rally
equally when it comes to making a buck or fighting an enemy. A Pew Research
study in 2002 found that 59 percent of the US respondents declared that
religion plays an important role in their lives. This compares to 65 percent
for Turkey and 57 percent for Mexico, 30 percent for Canada, 12 percent for
Japan and France.
Forty-seven percent
of Americans attend church on a typical weekend. According to a
Newsweek
poll, 91 percent of Americans believe in God.

THE
GOSPEL OF PROSPERITY

The
church in America closely resembles the description of the Church of Laodicea,
“Behold I am rich (wealthy) and in need of nothing.” (Revelation 3:17) Max
Weber’s book, “The
Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” described the marriage
between the religion and money. Wealth was a sign of God’s blessing and
poverty of his curse. So Americans worked hard and became wealthy. The lust
for wealth became one of the hallmarks of the “word/faith
movement,” proponents of the
green gospel. Now the suburbs are burgeoning with
mega churches – parking lots filled with imports and SUVs as shuttles
bring people from remote parking lots to the services on the “main campus”.
Folks who are making a lot of money will fight to keep it. The good life is
worth fighting for – to liberal and conservative alike.

THE
MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL-CHURCH COMPLEX

There is nothing like a
good enemy to unite the country; and we have had some good ones. Hitler was a
class act bad guy. So were Stalin, Mao and many less notables. This gave the
country (and the
military-industrial complex) someone to fight. Fascism and communism gave
the American military a reason for being. But when the
iron curtain fell, for the first time in decades there was no enemy to
fight and no way to feed the ravenous appetite of the elites who just happen
to make a lot of money from war. So along comes
9/11 – that catalyzing event which just so happens to be six years ago
this month. It gave us a new enemy and a good reason to drop close to
two trillion dollars into a new war. We now have a truly evil enemy
(someone who would kill thousands of innocent people in the twin towers),
people who are willing to blow themselves up and take women and children –
innocents, with them.

When 9/11 occurred,
everyone, including the legislators rallied around the President and gave him
everything he wanted. In the weeks following the attack, churches filled with
people and American flags. For the first time in 60 years, an attack had been
made on American soil. The Republicans had just come to power but increased
their lead in the next election as the
religious right thought they had finally found their champion and had
garnered enough votes to get things done so they could begin to reverse the
decline. Meanwhile, the President pressed his advantage by painting the enemy
in the worst light.

“President Bush repeatedly cast the
struggle against terrorism and America’s place in the world in explicitly
religious terms. Not just the terrorists, but a range of other rivals of
America were cast as ‘evil.’ A religiously inspired messianic spirit colored
even those passages where Bush was ostensibly, speaking of secular and
universal values. Bush himself has been reported as seeing himself as an
instrument of divine providence…The statement that ‘if you are not with us you
are against us,’ so endlessly repeated by the president and other
officials…”(Anatol Lieven, “America
Right or Wrong,” p. 128).

“We
must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans and confront the worst
threats before they emerge...be ready for pre-emptive action when necessary to
defend our liberty and to defend our lives… In the world we have entered, the
only path of safety is the pat of action. And this nation will act.”(Address
at West Point graduation, June 2, 2002)

Six years later, in spite
of the lies and subterfuge of the administration, the religious right is in a
state of panic. Some understand now that Bush and his cronies were not
necessarily all they promised to be, although a couple of Supreme Court
appointments will be Bush’s legacy to the conservatives. But when they look
forward, they see little hope. There isn’t a democrat or republican that they
can really rally around – a thrice divorced catholic, a Mormon, a former POW
who is pro-choice, etc… We are at a cross roads!

That is why I posed the
question in the last article: What if there were no election?
What if there was another terrorist event? What if there was another
9/11? What
if Bush decided to carry out the last piece of unfinished business he has as
president and that is to swing a knock out punch at Iran (and maybe Syria if
they get into the act)? There is more than speculation out there and the
news articles on a possible preemptive strike against Iran’s
nuclear facilities are in the news every day. What if that led to retaliation
by Iranian sleeper cells in the U.S.? What would that do to the 2008
election? But more importantly, what would that do to the churches in
America?

President Bush, as well
as pastors across the land have clearly characterized
radical Islam as evil, an enemy that is threatening the peace of the
world, our friends in Israel, and, if Iran were allowed to get nuclear
warheads, not only Israel, but most
of Europe would be within reach of Iran. The argument goes, that Iran
can’t be allowed to have nuclear weapons and we have to act while we still
can. Imagine for a moment that we bombed Iran and threats and more began to
be hurled our way. What do you think Americans would do – whether
conservative or liberal? They would rally around the flag as they always do
in times of war. Remember, we are talking about deception. Attacks and
threats will cause churches to rally their congregations around the
government? They did it during WWII. They did it after 9/11.

THE
HOLY WAR: PATRIOTIC PASTORS vs. CHRISTIANS

Patriotism rallies the
citizenry by definition, especially when it is a “holy war.” Christians
understand this and have waged holy wars against Islam from the crusades
onward. You may say it couldn’t happen here in this modern era. According to
Chalmers Johnson, the administration’s “apparent acceptance of a
clash of civilizations” and of wars to establish a moral truth that is the
same in every culture, sounds remarkably like a
Jihad, especially given the
Bush administration’s ties to Christian
fundamentalism. The president even implicitly equated himself with Jesus
Christ in repeated statements (notably September 20, 2001) that those who are
not with us are against us, a line clearly meant to echo Matthew 12:30, ‘He
that is not with me is against me.’” (ibid, Johnson, p. 287)

The
Bible tells us that in the last days, these conflicts will exist leading up to
the Gog-Magog War (which is a civilization conflict between Islam and
Judeo-Christian forces—see Doug’s articles:
Antichrist and the Gog-Magog War). What could possibly cause Christians
to turn against Christians but a highly patriotic conflict between “good and
evil?” Something like that happened in our lifetime and many well-meaning
Christians embraced Hitler and fascism. They didn’t all hate the Jewish
people but when the propaganda machine told the people that they were the
cause of all their problems (think about the similarities between the burning
of the Reichstag and 9/11) so
the great the majority of the population turned against them. To not do
so was to harbor the enemy. If caught,
the few who protected the Jews were thrown into concentration camps with
them. Believe me, the source of persecution in the last days will
come from a politically corrupted form of Christianity.

What would so enrage
Christians against their fellow brothers and sisters more than seeing them as
traitors to their own beloved country? Believe me, it is not a terribly
popular thing to expose the true nature of
America/prophetic
Babylon. This goes against everything we were ever told. Our
initial gut reaction is to condemn anyone who would dare criticize the U.S.,
especially as it valiantly fights the war on “terror” – fighting evil the
world over. What do you think deception is all about? It has got to be
convincing, appear to be good and right. Only those who know and listen to
the voice of the Shepherd will be spared the deception. We are not talking
about something cleverly human but something diabolically deceiving. To the
average person and even Christian, it will look right, sound right, and feel
right. It will be so convincing, so overwhelming that they will be convinced
they are doing God’s work in “turning in their deceived and heretical
brethren” to “the authorities.” After all, it’ll be for their own good!

As in
Orwell’s 1984, the government will make sure the threat levels
stay high. Orwell’s satire had three regions of the world called Oceania,
Eurasia, and Eastasia—constantly at war with one another in order to keep the
masses under control. The unifying factor was hatred of the enemy, and for
every day, they observed, “the two minute hate.” They hired an actor,
Emmanuel Goldstein. The enemy of the people would come on TV every day and
deliver a venomous attack against Big Brother.

“The
dull, rhythmic tramp of the soldiers’ boots formed the background to
Goldstein’s bleating voice. … In its second minute the Hate rose to a frenzy.
People were leaping up and down in their places and shouting at the tops of
their voices in an effort to drown the maddening bleating voice that came from
the screen. … The dark haired girl behind Winston had begun crying out “Swine!
Swine! Swine” and suddenly she picked up a heavy Newspeak dictionary and flung
it at the screen. It struck Goldstein’s nose and bounced off; the voice
continued inexorably. … The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was, not
that one was obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid
joining in. Within thirty seconds, any pretense was always unnecessary. A
hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to
smash faces in with a sledge hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of
people like an electric current turning one even against one’s will into a
grimacing, screaming lunatic.”…(George
Orwell, 1984)

We have been conditioned
since we were children to believe that we are the good guys in white hats on
white horses fighting the bad guys. Sociologists, historians, political
scientists, writers and others from
Alexis de Tocqueville on have been writing about America’s messianic
visions and its moral crusading on behalf of the world.

Christians have been led
to believe that our founding fathers were all God-fearing Christians who
founded a Christian nation. Whether that was their intention or not, it is
scripturally irrelevant; however, it is a matter of history. We will never
create utopia on earth (more on this later). The American form of government
was as much a product of the
French Enlightenment (which was decidedly secular) as it was the Bible.
If you look at the description of commercial Babylon in Revelation 18 and
Jeremiah, you will see a nation that may well at one time have been used to
bless the nations. Nothing is black and white and there certainly have been
believers who sincerely walked with the Lord and served as best they could.
I’m not taking away from those wonderful saints. But we are naïve and
deceived if we attribute any more to America than that. It is an interesting
experiment but the “whole world lies in the evil one.” There will be no
Kingdom of God upon the earth until Jesus returns and reigns for a thousand
years. To believe that America is blessed in the same way some considered
Britain to be the “new Israel of God,” is the path to deception and
destruction. This brings us to a related subject – Israel!

“I Will
Bless Those Who Bless Israel” but Beware!!!

I want to make one thing
perfectly clear before I begin. There is no one who is more supportive than
we are of Jews, including those living in the land of Israel. Just look at
the dozens of articles we have on this website. In fact, we have been so bold
to declare that the two witnesses of Revelation 11 – the two olive trees and
the two lampstands are God’s two peoples: Jews and Christians (See:
The Two Witnesses in Wikipedia and Doug’s article on
The Two Witnesses). We have multiple articles on this subject and go
into it in great detail. We feel that these two peoples will somehow stand
and testify to God’s faithfulness during the Tribulation. The Bible is very
clear that His people would be scattered among the nations and gathered again
back to their land. (See “Can
These Bones Live?”) This is mentioned in Deuteronomy, the fifth book of
the Bible and mentioned
countless times throughout. Praise God! It happened in our life time.
Israel became a nation in 1948, was nearly overwhelmed by much more powerful
enemies six times since then and is still facing millions committed to their
destruction. Again, we have countless articles on these prophecies as they
are unfolding before our eyes. (See, for example:
Three Wars and One Peace Treatyby Doug Krieger)

Now this is where it gets
interesting. Most evangelicals, especially
dispensationalists, are supportive of Israel.
John Hagee, a pastor of a large church in San Antonio, Texas, heads a
large organization “Christians
United for Israel.” Now it just so happens that the United
States has historically been about the only friend Israel could count on.
All the other countries turned against them (Britain, France, etc.). Only
America has consistently and practically stood with her (i.e. billions and
billions in military aid, making Israel the third most powerful military in
the world—the
IDF). On the one hand we Christians would have to say this is good. We
are blessing Israel. So what could possibly be wrong with that?

Nearly twenty-five years
ago, one of my closest friends started an organization that was building
bridges between Christians and Jews. They had wonderful joint events,
marches, dinners, meetings in Washington, DC. It was really the beginnings of
what is going on today. Israel was getting caught in one of their tight
spaces and my friend really wanted to show support for Israel, so he took out
a full page ad in the Sacramento Bee (not inexpensive even then). I warned
him back then to be careful getting too entangled with politics. Now what’s
wrong with that, you may say?

Again, we have detailed
articles on this subject on our website but here is a brief summary.
Daniel 9:27 speaks of a covenant (“Then he shall confirm a
covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring
an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be
one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is
poured out on the desolate.”). The peace of Israel is guaranteed by a treaty
with the Antichrist head of a nation called Babylon –
prophetic Babylon, if you will–a country that is so big and powerful, it
can do this and no one’s going to mess with Israel (Please see our article).
The only problem is (to simplify and shorten the story), the guy who signs the
treaty – this king of Babylon is the Antichrist and he breaks the treaty mid
point in this seven-year period and turns on Israel.

SIDING
WITH THE ANTICHRIST – NOW THIS IS DECEPTION!

The warning for both
Christians and Jews should be obvious now. This great leader and this great
country that is supporting Israel is the ANTICHRIST and PROPHETIC BABYLON.
Again, please
check out articles on the website for details. The warning is for both
because the Antichrist turns against Israel (Daniel
9:27) and the apostate church (Revelation
17:16) that helped him to power and supported him. Meanwhile,
there will be the “two
witnesses” – which consists of Jews and Christians who are
willing to stand up and testify to God’s mercy and pending judgment and
against the lies of the Antichrist.

Christians who support
Israel are called dispensationalists (traditional
dispensationalists) because they believe the church era ends with
the rapture of the church and the final dispensation (the last seven
years) is left to the Jews. This is one more reason the average fundamental
Christian will be deceived. Some of them are well aware that the final seven
years begin with the treaty between Israel and the Antichrist as the king of
Babylon. But if that treaty occurs and they
are still here, it is doubtful
they will recognize it because the pretrib rapture doctrine has them out of
here before that happens.

The deception grows for
many reasons. Because they were expecting to secretly rapture to meet Jesus
somewhere in the air, they thought they were supporting their own President
signing a treaty to protect Israel, a nation they have been taught to bless
and support. They didn’t recognize their leader as a questionable character.
They didn’t recognize their country (America/prophetic Babylon) as having any
prophetic significance (please see:
In Search of Babylon). These Christians were brainwashed to
believe America couldn’t possibly be anything but a nation with a
destiny, if not a divine calling to usher in the kingdom.

Christians the world over
will be celebrating a treaty to protect Israel and guarantee her security.
The treaty will be signed after the ORACLE OF DAMASCUS (Daniel
9:26—“”the end of the war”) and prior to the
Gog-Magog War (See:
Three Wars and One Peace Treaty by Doug Krieger) – a debilitating war
between radical Islamic forces in the Middle East on one side and Israel, with
probable US support, on the other).

Everyone will be ecstatic
over the victory, but Israel will have used up most of her offensive weapons
(and exhausted her thirst for Secular Zionism—see
Isaiah 17:4) so America will have to protect her from future calamities
(i.e., the Gog-Magog War) – NOTE: The PRE-POSITIONING of the West’s forces in
the Beautiful Land permits the scenario of the Gog-Magog War/Conflict found in
Daniel 11:40-45 wherein “Antichrist and his forces” contend with
Gog-Magog’s forces (King of the North and King of the South; however, in
Ezekiel 38-39:16) Israel, now dwelling in “unwalled villages” as a result of
the “peace treaty” orchestrated by Antichrist, is the focus of the Gog-Magog
War—these two portions of Scripture speak of the same war from two
perspectives! (Ref.
Robert Duncan Culver: Daniel in the Latter Days, p. 169):

“He (Antichrist) shall seek to destroy Israel
(referencing Daniel 11:41, 45) in his own ‘glorious land’ (Palestine) and to
obliterate the then revived worship of Israel in the land. This is the most
obvious explanation of the statements that ‘he shall enter also into the
glorious land,’ and that ‘he shall plant the tents of his palace between the
sea and the glorious holy mountain.’ Most commentators of all schools admit
that this is, indeed, the literal meaning. We further believe that the
prophecy, ‘he shall come to his end, and none shall help him,’ is fully
explained in a literal fashion by Paul (II Thess. 2:2 ff.) and by John Rev.
19:11 ff.). This interpretation accepts the doctrines of a final Antichrist,
of a restoration of Israel to the land in the latter part of this age, and of
a millennium during which Israel is blessed to follow this age.” (Robert
Duncan Culver, Trinity Evangelical Seminary,
Daniel and the Latter Days, p. 169)

Surely this is a sign
that we are a chosen and blessed nation because of our support. The only
people that will say much in opposition (other than those liberals supporting
the Palestinians) will be those few Christians who understand the prophecy.
Anyone who dares to oppose this wonderful treaty is nothing more than a
traitor and sympathizer with the enemy! This will surely lead to prison or
worse for any dissenters. They will have no prophetic understanding that they
have allied themselves, like “the many” (i.e., the majority of Israelis) with
those Isaiah says “. . . have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol
(HELL) we are in agreement . . . (BUT) . . . your covenant with death will be
annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand” (Isaiah
28:15, 18)

And finally, these
Laodicean
Christians who think they are rich and in need of nothing, are poor, blind and
naked, unwittingly taking their stand on the side of the Antichrist – and
totally clueless (Revelation
3:14-19). This brings us to our last point. The whole world will be
deceived by the Antichrist, but Christians should know better. It’s all laid
out in the Bible (Revelation
6:2; II Thessalonians 2:1-12). Why are American Christians in particular
deceived?

WHY ARE
WE CHRISTIANS PRONE TO DECEPTION?

I’m going to answer that
question in a minute. But first let’s define a Christian. Is a Christian
someone who believes in certain doctrines and teachings, goes to church, reads
his Bible, and prays? Not one of those things makes a person a Christian. A
Christian is a person who has been born again by the Spirit of God. His human
spirit has been brought to life. That is a special part of our being – the
“God shaped” vacuum within us, that special place where we fellowship with
God. It is that transforming life inside that changes us, not our efforts to
be good or to act a certain way (Ref.
John 3:1-21). But what happens often with Christians is as Paul says in
Galatians,
having begun in the spirit we continue in the flesh (Galatians
3:1-3). We experience a new life and relationship but get distracted and
start to act like we think a Christian ought to act.

So
what does that have to do with being prone to deception? If we don’t maintain
that relationship with God, we revert to our old ways, our old life and become
miserable, hypocritical actors! We start out so alive, so relieved to be
forgiven and clean for once in our lives. We sense God’s presence and spend a
lot of time fellowshipping with Him. But soon, something happens and we lose
that wonderful relationship we started with and we learn to be religious or,
in other words, how to act, how to go through the motions of being a
Christian. Many things distract us, but we American Christians have a unique
problem in the history of the world.

It’s pretty simple if you
think about it. We have too much to lose! We are the wealthiest people
to ever live on the face of the earth. Maybe if we lived in a mud hut
in Haiti, China or Africa, and owned the clothes on our back, a spoon, a bowl,
a blanket, had no shoes and got one meal a day, we might have different
priorities. I could bore you for hours on end with how much more of
everything we have compared to 90 percent of the rest of the world, but I’ll
spare you. Basically, we want our cake and eat it too.

American Christians are
at the top of the pyramid when it comes to
Mazloff’s hierarchy of needs; and we have a system of society
that demands involvement where we can participate in and affect what happens.
We have come to believe in our ability to change the world, make it better and
in fact the “Protestant
ethic” makes it mandatory for us to get involved. At the same time, our
material appetites increase. The starter home has
doubled in size from about 1200 square feet to 2400 in the past 25 years.
The finisher home is the proverbial MacMansion (5000 plus square feet)
that I see sprouting up all over town in those large lots from the ‘50’s – two
story behemoths that take up the whole lot and tower over the little ranch
house next door!

Go to the local mega
church and you will never be offended as the church helps you navigate through
all the important things of your purpose driven life. You will never hear a
thing about prophecy (way too negative, as in “Despise
Not Prophecies”). You will likely be reassured about the imminent
rapture. Although, you will see disillusionment with the government,
criticism will spin on a dime to support if something bad were to happen.
Overall, most believe America is essentially a good, well meaning country,
that it has no place whatsoever in prophecy and that supporting Israel is good
(Please see Doug’s series beginning with:
Bye-bye Babylon (check on Google).

Let
me tell you, people raised in this safe atmosphere will never think outside
the box and will do whatever is necessary to protect and defend what is
theirs. These Christians basically view themselves as having dual
citizenship. They have their life insurance policy to go to heaven, but this
is where their life is – job, car, family, home and church. They need to
vote, do jury duty, participate in the PTA – after all Satan will take over if
“good men do nothing.” They are more at war with the culture and the secular
society that is drawing their kids away, subverting their morals and spawning
rebellion. They are determined to take the country back.

When Jesus said that we
are either for or against Him, He meant it and 99.99% of the Jews and Jewish
leaders of His day were against Him then – and
Luke poses
the question, “When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith on the earth?”
(Luke
18:8) To me, the question for this generation, especially in America, is
one of citizenship. In God’s mind, there is no such thing as dual
citizenship. Down through the ages saints looked for a city whose builder and
maker is God. (Hebrews
11:9-10) We are strangers and pilgrims. (Hebrews
11:13) The Bible tells us the whole world lies in the evil
one’s control. (I
John 5:19) Just as all men are fallen and need to be redeemed,
all have fallen short.

There is no institution
that man creates that is any better than the man that created it. All nations
are broken. All forms of government are broken. All forms of economic
organization are broken, because man is broken. He is corrupt and will bring
that corruption with him wherever he goes. The world can’t be fixed. The
only thing that can be fixed is the heart of man by God – one heart at a time,
if they are willing.

Butif Christians hold on to their things, to their
beloved America, the savior nation, of Israel, even of the poor and oppressed
in the form of today’s “gospel of social justice” – “the distorted
gospelof the (so-called) Kingdom (of good works),” (proclaimed by
well-meaning but wholly-deceived lovers of so-called ‘liberation
theology’ – in other words, your “good works” and your “evil works” – the
good, the bad and the ugly – and fail to see through the sham of it all as
nothing more than a replacement of Christ Himself, they will be deceived.

If Christians continue to
go to church and demand that the pastors do this that and the other thing for
them, rather than realize that they are the church, have gifts and should use
them, they will be deceived.

If Christians fail to
give everything they are and have to God, they will be deceived.

If Christians think there
is nothing more to it than going to church and reading their Bible now and
then, they will be deceived.

If Christians refuse to
listen to and obey His voice, they will be deceived.

If Christians believe the
feel good gospel they hear from their pulpits, they will be deceived.

If Christians believe the
media, the spin, the lies of their government, they will be deceived.

If end times’ Christians
refuse to read and understand the very prophecy that was written for them
because it is too hard or confusing, they will be deceived.

If they accept the
teachings of their pastors rather than looking into the Scriptures themselves
to determine the “purposes of God” for the end of days as it clearly states in
Daniel 12:4, they will be deceived.

If they blindly support
America, or any government for that matter, they will be deceived.

If they trust a sincere,
charismatic, peace making leader who wants to sign a treaty to defend Israel,
they will surely be deceived.

And finally, if they
think they can’t be deceived, they surely will be!

IN
CONCLUSION – IT’S TIME TO DECIDE!

Brothers and sisters,
there is nothing to be afraid of. We are about to enter the most exciting,
climatic (literally) period in the history of humankind! We are going to have
the opportunity to witness those events leading to the return of our Lord
Jesus Christ! The greatest deception and tribulation the world has ever known
is settling like a pale upon us. We can either be caught up in it or stand
boldly against it, knowing that the short-term price to be paid is nothing
compared to the glory about to be revealed.

“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them,
and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been
beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not
worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their
foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a
thousand years.” (Revelation
20:4)

Far from the lukewarm
Christian wanting to hold on to his own life is the attitude of the Christian
in the midst of the Tribulation: “And they overcame by the blood of the lamb,
by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives even unto
death.” (Revelation
12:11) Or as the martyred missionary
Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep
to gain what he cannot lose.”